Lucid Dreams
by prismdreams
Summary: What if Bette Sans Souci wasn't killed by a friendly fire ambush? What if there might be a way for Bette to finally understand who she is and what she can do? If Barry had anything to say about it he wasn't going to stop finding a way for Bette to finally live in peace. Set after 1x05.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:**__ New story! Wow, it's my first Flash fic. I loved the character Bette (Plastique) and I believed she has more story to her so I just started one today. I appreciate any comments you have. Thank you. :)_

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><p>Bette Sans Souci charged forward with her hand pushed outward toward General Wade Eiling after the explosion, fierce and determined to end her tormentor's life.<p>

_One final mission, then it's over._

Barry Allen appeared suddenly, costume bound, startling her pathway.

"What are you doing here?"

"Being a soldier doesn't mean you're a murderer. You don't have to do this Bette." He said calmly, hoping to convince her.

Her broken voice almost choked out the words, "Dr. Wells told me to-"

"Not here." He said, quickly.

Barry grabbed her arm and sped to a narrow alley, away from the crowd. He didn't want to take any chances with General Eiling and company possibly ambushing. Barry wasn't military-inclined but with his newly equipped powers, he was able to think as well as mobilize fast.

Bette's back felt piercing whiplash, she wasn't used to Barry's ability. She took a moment to process what happened. Her dazed expression faltered her judgements.

Barry checked around, making sure the coast was clear. When he looked back at Bette, his eyes softened and glanced at her hand pressing behind her neck.

He wanted to touch her and make sure she was OK, but he didn't dare touch her, he couldn't. She was lethal, unfortunately. Her touch could wreak havoc to anyone or anything in mere seconds and so he thought of the next alternative.

"Are you OK?" Barry asked, watching Bette's focus come back.

Bette stood up as Barry backed away but stayed close. He couldn't help it, she'd almost lost everything just moments ago. She appeared so phased, unable to form words at first.

"Yeah, I think so. I-" Bette paused before catching herself.

She remembered what Wells had told her before and but disregarded it. Barry trusted him so she didn't mention it.

"Thank you, Barry, I-I just don't know what to say right now. My head is feeling...a little light."

Barry looked just to make sure they weren't being followed, he was feeling paranoid and didn't want to stick around to find out.

"We should leave, I'll take you back to S.T.A.R. Labs." Barry said as Bette looked at him sharply but calmly agreed with him.

Bette was stuck in a monster cloud of confusion. Why did Barry come in the nick of time to save her? She couldn't understand why anyone would want to help her, especially since the team he worked with at the Lab had basically said she had an incurable freak power and that she was a danger to herself and to the world.

She looked at Barry quickly before, without a moment to lose, he sped to the Lab's front entrance. Just as Barry was about to open the door, Bette stopped him.

"Wait, I..." She started to say, but lost the rest of the sentence.

Barry looked at her, patiently waiting for her to continue. Bette was too emotionally distraught, it was obvious. His concerned face urged her to speak.

Bette was in a state of near complete shock. There was no way someone cared this much about someone they just met.

She refused to believe this is really happening. "I can't go in. It's too-someone might get hurt."

Barry instead touched her elbow gently, trying to hold the compassion in his eyes stronger so she could see. She had to know that everything was going to be OK; and it was, he'd saved her, it was over.

"They won't, I just need to make sure you're safe. Please come with me. I promise, no one will get hurt." Barry said, softly.

Bette couldn't ignore this was the first bout of solace she has had in a long time. Being a commanding soldier didn't leave time to relax. The way of life on enemy grounds moved fast, at time much quicker than she can handle. Which was why her last mission had failed.

She nodded, following behind Barry as they made their way to the center research headquarters. Bette hugged her shoulders unsure if she was really supposed to be here. These people only just said they couldn't help her return back to the way she was. When she was normal. When all she had to worry about were post traumatic stress disorders, routine nightmares involving snipers and the worst of all artillery ammunition.

Bette suddenly collapsed to the ground and sobbed hard into her knees. Barry kept his distance but remained close. He wouldn't leave her side when she managed to tell him to go away.

She felt him lean down to her level, still not touching her, not even touching her with clothes on. He knew she was fragile and was trying to keep it together but was failing miserably.

"Sorry, please just, why didn't you leave me there? Those were _my_ men. There is nothing left...nothing." She squeaked out through finishing sobs.

Barry sighed deeply, "I know you wouldn't have wanted that no matter how much you thought it was over. Bette, I..." Bette raised her head to look at him, "It is over for them. I mean this, they can't hurt you anymore."

Bette shook her head in near panic. "No, they can't." She paused, gulping back another round of sobs ready to take over. "Only I can."

"You don't believe that. You are not a danger to yourself, you can-_we_ can help you."

She looked at Barry incredulously. "Barry, your team said they have no way of reversing this, this abomination, literally, out of me. No way."

Barry looked for something to say, surely there was a way to help her. "What if that's not entirely true?"

"What?"

"What if there is a way to reverse it, we just haven't thought of enough evidence to experiment with?" Barry said, hoping this sounded as plausible as he thought it.

"How?" Bette wiped her eyes with her jacket sleeve.

"We could try. I don't know, I just need you to stop going outside for a while. Eiling could find you again. He's still out there."

"I know." Bette replied, ominously.

She was sure the blasts had knocked him out. But knowing Eiling, he had the strength and stamina of a rhinoceros.

"Let me change quick OK?" Barry said and sped off only to return 10 seconds later.

Bette almost smiled but caught herself before any positive emotion dripped from her face. She was sick of crying, sick of feeling so afraid, she lost everything. She looked around the Lab.

"Where is everyone?" She asked, suddenly realizing they were alone.

Barry looked around just as confused as she was. "They were in my ear a minute ago."

"Ms Souci, welcome back." Dr. Wells rolled his wheel chair at a slow pace, "We thought we'd lost you."

Bette almost grabbed Barry for protection but then realized she's kill him seconds later after first touch.

Barry helped Bette stand up before turning his attention to Dr. Wells.

"Look, I was almost too late for Bette. I know Caitlin said there was no chance to reverse her powers back to the way they were. But I know there has got to be another way. We haven't tried everything. Have we Dr. Wells?" Barry asked, adamantly.

Dr. Wells took off his thick, black rimmed glasses and pointedly stared at Barry.

"Sometimes experiments are futile, but in this case, there may be an alternative procedure we haven't attempted on Ms. Souci. It's going to feel like a needle in a haystack but it's worth an attempt. You're right Barry."

Barry was almost sure Dr. Wells would tell him it's nearly hopeless or follow through on what he told him previously. But this news shocked him.

He looked at Bette with hopeful eyes and she appeared slightly unsure.

"He's right." Caitlin said, coming into the room with Cisco walking in back of her, almost peaking out to see Bette standing behind Barry. "We can still try. For your sake."

Cisco looked down before smiling bashfully at Bette. She finally warmed to the idea of leading a normal life.

And for what it's worth, like Caitlin said, at least she wasn't alone anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:** Hey! I appreciate the responses on this story so far. You guys have been so cool with the support. I'm already writing Chapter 3 so it won't be long until it's posted. Here's the next chapter in the meantime! I actually really like exploring this character. She's complex. Hope you'll tell me what you think of this after you've read it. Thanks!_

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><p>Bette's body convulsed aggressively inside the testing chamber as the temporary shock waves passed through her body making it jump wildly.<p>

Dr. Wells and Caitlin felt it was best to try this method as a means to shock drain the particle cells from her body; but from the looks of it, Bette was taking all of the shots the voltage power can shock. Something was not quite reading right according to her cellular structure. They didn't extract at all. Harrison Wells stood his ground and kept at it, much to the dismay of Barry and Cisco, even Caitlin who was running on anxious.

Barry stood firmly with eyes glued to the monitor and shifting on Bette. Something about this whole thing was unsettling. It looked like her entire body was being struck by a surging power that she was forced to fight through and the antibodies inside her system weren't reacting properly. Barry worried about this girl.

And truthfully, he didn't know why it went beyond saving her life. She was just like him, a meta-human. Incapable of realizing who they are and what their limits can draw out. Barry was using his abilities, more of harnessing them as a means to defend people. Bette's situation was not in the slightest bit the same. She had no choice, she _had_ to do this. If it was Barry with the explosive touch, he'd want to do the same quickly before he hurt anyone else.

Barry bit his lip and narrowed his eyes while Caitlin and Dr. Wells tried another level of shocks. The heavy sigh from everyone proved Barry's suspicions might be correct.

Was any of this really helping her? Barry winced as Dr. Wells raised the power on the level crank, thrusting more volts forward. Bette's body shot up, even harder this time and Barry knew he had to say something.

"Wait!" Barry shouted and Wells stopped increasing the volts.

"Barry, this can't be interrupted. You know the experiment needs to complete or else-" Barry cut Wells off.

"Or what? She's dead? Dr. Wells, this treatment, I don't think it's doing its job to help her at all. I think there needs to be another way."

Wells leaned down in an almost alarmingly menacing way, "Barry, you brought her back and put her into _our_ hands. You need to stay out of the way where you aren't concerned. She will not die from this treatment. I'm afraid there is no other way to reverse her alteration. Stand aside."

Barry moved over to where Cisco was sitting with the main controls. Barry stood near him with determined but worried eyes. The trepidation he felt was powerful. Cisco almost relented but spoke when he received a look from Dr. Wells.

"Sorry, I...you know I want to stop but Dr. Wells said to finish the process. What if it _does_ work?" Cisco said, semi hopeful.

Barry wasn't buying it. Cisco was just taking orders.

"Cisco, does it look like it's working? Come on!" Barry exclaimed, turning to Caitlin for support but she was just as on the fence.

"Barry, you need to-" Dr. Wells spoke over Caitlin who bit her tongue.

"Enough discussion; Cisco, check the status, make sure to check if her heart is still beating at a healthy pace. Then we will try again, this time to finish the process _without_ interruptions."

Barry couldn't believe what he was hearing. Bette's body was not capable of sustaining composure for another round of shocks and the power alone was beyond anything a human can handle. Even for a meta-human standards. Barry knew pain when he saw it.

"You need to stop this treatment, stop it now. Bette's heart should not need to be checked each time this is being done. What kind of advanced experiment is this that you have to check her vitals for a healthy status?"

"I didn't say there weren't going to be risks. Now, you don't have to watch. Like I said, step aside."

Barry vehemently shook his head. "No, this is wrong. She isn't responding to anything you're doing. You need to find another way. It looks like torture because it is. This is not right."

Caitlin looked at Barry and instantly felt remorse. She made eye contact with Cisco who also looked into the direction she was.

Suddenly, the machine stopped functioning. But it wasn't just the machine. The Lab's power was completely off, leaving a blackout to cover the room. Nobody could see a thing. All that could be heard was Bette's inaudible yelping from the testing slab in front.

Barry used this as his opportunity to speed into the room wearing gloves, he couldn't see so he felt for Bette's body, he found it within seconds.

"Are you alright? Bette?" Barry asked, raising his voice. "Bette? Come on, please." His gloved fingers touched her face.

The crew behind the glass were scrambling to turn on the power while Barry tried to think of a way to stop this when they do turn the lights back on. Wells' face looked hard and mad, he didn't look like someone who could be reasoned with during an experiment.

"Barry..." He heard near him as Bette groaned slowly opening her eyes to darkness.

"What's going on?" She said, moaning most of the words out.

She felt the back of her head, a shooting pain was evident along her back trailing upward along spinal cord. "My head-hmm, hurts."

"I know, we need to stop this, Dr. Wells was testing to see if your cells reacted, but it didn't and your heart was beating dangerously low."

Bette felt in the air for something, felt like a face, her hands were gloved and she was grateful. Two fresh tears slid down the sides of her cheeks, her throat was getting dry. Whatever they were doing to her, she seemed to be growing nauseated from it.

"Can you make it stop?" Bette begged, weakly touching Barry's high cheekbones. "I don't know if I take this much longer."

As a soldier Bette was meant to withstand large amounts of endurance testing for her threshold of pain, this was taking it to an extreme level. She wasn't used to this type of damage on her body and she was worried the doctor wasn't going to stop, perhaps she believed it was the opposite.

The power turned back on and the team hurriedly moved back to the stations. Dr. Wells gave Barry another hard glare and gestured for him to walk out of the chamber.

"No, Dr. Wells, she isn't responding to this. Can't you see? Look..." Barry said, trailing off, trying to think of anything to convince him to stop.

Cisco cleared his throat, breaking the tension. "Sorry guys, interrupting because I'm getting a strange reading from her status." They all looked at him confused.

Caitlin continued, "Bette's status he means. It's inconclusive. Her heart rate kept decreasing making it difficult for oxygen to pump throughout her body almost to suffocation. Her body isn't strong enough for this process. Barry's right, there should be another less painful way of handling this."

Caitlin shared information with Cisco and Dr. Wells looked between them, then over to Barry who held an exasperated expression. Dr. Wells rolled his wheel chair to oversee the information Cisco and Caitlin were reviewing.

After a few, long several moments Dr. Wells cleared his throat.

"Hold her in overnight." Dr. Wells began, "Let's sleep on this and continue to pursue a more functional method tomorrow. Barry, you can go home."

Barry breathed a sigh of relief as the team went on packing up to leave. Dr. Wells kept eying Barry before he left the room. Barry found this behavior unnecessarily odd. He didn't think, again, that Dr. Wells would believe him enough to stop something so important, but he was glad there was some proof to support it. _I owe Cisco later._

Who knows how much pain Bette was feeling? From the looks of her face and nearly frail body he didn't want to know. He just wanted her out of there.

He helped Bette remove all the suction measures from her face and stand up since she couldn't do it on her own. She looked at him still a little dazed but was slowly regaining back her senses. She checked to make sure her hands were covered in gloves, letting her paranoia drop when they were.

Barry carried her to the back room that held a long, but thin bedroom cot against the wall. The room was freezing and it looked like there weren't enough blankets. He only saw a burlap cover that was something that might have been used for other means. He felt a chill and watched Bette's face as she mirrored his emotion.

Barry had to speak up.

"I don't think you should stay here. I know Dr. Wells said to keep you in but I think you're gonna freeze in this room."

Bette realized the awkward silence and filled it instantly. "It's OK, I'll be OK. I've slept in worse situations."

Barry didn't want to accept that answer and he also had no intention of defying Dr. Wells. He still couldn't help but care.

"Are you sure?"

There was a knock behind them and they turned around to see Caitlin dressed in her trench coat, ready to leave.

"Sorry, um, Dr. Wells wanted me to tell you Barry that Bette can't leave the Lab. It's too risky with Eiling still alive and Dr. Wells couldn't gamble on Bette going back home." Caitlin said somberly.

_It's fine, I don't have a home anyway._ Bette almost grimaced but replied with, "I understand."

Caitlin nodded and turned the other way but not before sharing a look with Barry, passing him a small smile to which he returned.

As soon as Barry thought they were alone he felt helpless again. "Look, if there is anything I can do, please let me know right now because I definitely don't want you to feel like you have to suffer anymore. You know you don't deserve that."

Bette moved away from him. Uncertain of how to respond to his open generosity. She was wearing gloves but she almost took them off because she suddenly didn't want him to leave her alone. She couldn't make him stay.

_Chin up soldier._ She told herself. _Don't complicate things anymore than they are._

"I'll be fine. I won't destroy anything or hurt anyone if I am here. Your team is right." Bette said almost above a whisper.

Barry kept waiting until she would say more. When she didn't, he nervously felt behind his neck and began putting some distance between them.

He didn't want to. He didn't know what it was but he wanted to stay. At least until she...

"What if I stay here until you fall asleep? That way you can have some peace tonight." Barry said softly.

"I haven't had a peaceful sleep since before I left for the war." She mumbled but winced as soon as she said it.

He heard it, she's given away her vulnerability.

Barry had heard enough, "Hey, it's OK, like I said, it's alright if you don't want to be alone. I'm here to help you."

Bette looked up and into Barry's gentle green eyes, almost unaware there were still people out there like him. The things she saw many months ago made her think the world was just a harsh, cruel environment and she had to defend it by any means. She never thought of someone ever wanting to protect her from it. Explains why this seemed almost fantastical. She wasn't sure if this was an alternative world or if this was her reality. Before she could breakdown and confess everything she'd been keeping in for the last ten months, she bit her lip before hanging her head down, almost in inarguable defeat. She didn't want to admit to it with words but Barry answered by walking closer and taking hold of her hand.

Bette slowly moved to the cot as Barry covered her body carefully but looked at her like he wanted to say something.

All he could say in that moment was...

"I'm glad I wasn't too late to save you. Goodnight Bette."


End file.
